ST. PETERSBURG -- There were plenty of moments when the Rays had to feel pretty good about their chances Saturday afternoon. Brandon Lowe, fresh off the 60-day injured list, dropped a bunt single and scored in the first inning. Randy Arozarena launched a solo homer to put them up by two in the third. And they still led by a run after seven innings, with their top reliever trotting to the mound.

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But the virtually unhittable Jason Adam allowed the game-tying homer to rookie Adley Rutschman in the eighth, the first of a few momentum swings that went against the Rays in their 6-4, 11-inning loss to the Orioles at Tropicana Field. The loss snapped their five-game winning streak and ended a franchise-record 10-game home winning streak against Baltimore.

“Any loss is tough, but a loss when you're holding the lead in the eighth is extra tough,” Adam said. “[If] I get the job done there, [right-hander Ryan Thompson] comes in in the ninth and shuts the door, so that's on me. But short-term memory, we'll come back and win the series tomorrow.”

The Rays had been 40-4 when leading after seven innings, and Adam’s dominance this season made the moment all the more surprising. But it was hardly the only reason Tampa Bay lost the penultimate game before the All-Star break.

Despite scoring three runs off Orioles starter Dean Kremer, the Rays went 1-for-7 against him with runners in scoring position, including two strikeouts and two double-play grounders. They managed only two hits and four walks in seven innings against Baltimore’s bullpen, and they finished the day just 2-for-15 overall with runners in scoring position.

“That's the key, I think, of the game,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Early on we had too many guys left on base, a couple of guys in scoring position [with] less than two outs that we didn't knock in, and it came back and bit us.”

That allowed the Orioles to hang around and eventually tie the game on Rutschman’s first career pinch-hit homer. Adam fell behind Rutschman, 2-0, then talked himself out of throwing a changeup and settled on a fastball to get back in the count.

“I threw a strike, and it was a little fat,” Adam said. “He did what good hitters do.”

Adam hadn’t allowed a run in 36 of his previous 40 appearances this season and didn’t permit a hit in 27 of those outings. Rutschman’s Statcast-projected 371-foot shot was only the second homer Adam has allowed.

“Felt like the second hit he's given up all year,” Cash said. “That’s baseball. He's still really good.”

When the game went to extras, Rutschman lofted a fly ball to right-center with Austin Hays on third and one out in the 10th. Center fielder Brett Phillips took charge of the play, trusting he could thwart the sacrifice fly and cut down Hays at the plate with his strong arm.

Indeed, Phillips unleashed a missile of a throw that went slightly up the line, short-hopping it to catcher Christian Bethancourt with enough time to tag out the runner. But Bethancourt dropped the ball, and the Orioles pulled ahead. Phillips said it would have been a “tough play” for Bethancourt, given the bounce he had to play, but the catcher took the blame.

“It was a good throw. I've got to make that play. It was a tough hop, a strong throw, but [I] just couldn't come up with it,” Bethancourt said. “I was hoping that, if I had come up with the ball and made that play, I thought he was going to be out.”

The Rays scored in the 10th on Ji-Man Choi’s single up the middle, sending the game to the 11th. Once again, momentum shifted their way and right back in the Orioles’ direction almost immediately.

Bethancourt and shortstop Taylor Walls teamed up to catch Rougned Odor stealing to begin the 11th, making a play Cash called “unbelievable.” They recognized Jorge Mateo would try to bunt over Odor but was likely to miss on a slider from reliever Luke Bard, leaving Odor too far away from second. That’s exactly what played out.

Bethancourt made a strong throw to Walls, who picked it and made a perfect throw to third baseman Isaac Paredes, who tagged out Odor to essentially reset the inning in the Rays’ favor: nobody on, one out.

But Bard immediately allowed a triple to Mateo and walked Cedric Mullins. One strike away from stranding both runners, Bard yielded the go-ahead two-run bloop single to Ryan Mountcastle. The final momentum swing went the Orioles’ way.

“Momentum is real. And right there, that triple just gave them some momentum,” Phillips said. “Mountcastle put together a heck of an at-bat against Bard. Got to give credit where credit is due, and he got beat. “